title: Frailty among community-dwelling elderly people in France: the three-city study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To better understand the contribution of frailty to health-related outcomes in elderly persons, it seems valuable to explore data from cohort studies across the world in an attempt to establish a comprehensive definition. The purpose of this report is to show the characteristics of frailty and observe its prognosis in a large sample of French community-dwelling elderly persons.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used data from 6078 persons 65 years old or older participating in the Three-City Study (3C). Frailty was defined as having at least three of the following criteria: weight loss, weakness, exhaustion, slowness, and low activity. Principal outcomes were incident disability, hospitalization, and death. Multiple covariates were used to test the predictive validity of frailty on these outcomes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Four hundred twenty-six individuals (7%) met frailty criteria. Participants classified as frail were significantly older, more likely to be female, and less educated and reported more chronic diseases, lower income, and poorer self-reported health status in comparison to nonfrail participants. In multivariate analysis, frailty was significantly associated with 4-year incidence of disability in activities of daily living (ADL) and instrumental ADL. However, frailty was marginally associated with incident hospitalization and was not a statistically significant predictor of incident mobility disability or mortality adjusting for potential confounding factors.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Frailty is not specific to a subgroup or region of the world. The construct proposed by Fried and colleagues confirms its predictive validity for adverse-health outcomes, particularly for certain components of disability, thus suggesting that it may be useful in population screening and predicting service needs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatrics, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán, Mexico City, Mexico.
authors.forename: José Alberto
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Avila-Funes
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Helmer
authors.forename: Hélène
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Amieva
authors.forename: Pascale
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Barberger-Gateau
authors.forename: Mélanie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Le Goff
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ritchie
authors.forename: Florence
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Portet
authors.forename: Isabelle
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Carrière
authors.forename: Béatrice
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Tavernier
authors.forename: Luis Miguel
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Gutiérrez-Robledo
authors.forename: Jean-François
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Dartigues
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D005260:Female; D016330:Frail Elderly; D005602:France / Q000453:epidemiology; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011379:Prognosis